Killing the Minions of the Time Monster

All of us know people who slow us down. Either they don’t plan ahead, or they get behind and hand you their stuff at the last minute.

This can kill a well laid out schedule if you are depending on someone to get something done.

Some things that might help:

1. Reorganize – Review the way things need to be done so that you’re not held up by them.
2. Set deadlines - If they don’t meet your schedule let them know you won’t be done on time. (This is important even if you’re at the bottom of the food chain. They have to know others are depending on you too.)
3. Keep moving - Either by working on something else until you get the information you need or by getting enough key information from them that you can keep working without waiting for them to finish.
4. Learn other’s method of working - Some people are always in crisis mode, find out who these people are and give them an earlier deadline, that way you might get the information by the time you need it. Or if a person gets things right away, you might put off giving them the work so that when they get it back to you, you’ll be able to finish it right away.

As we keep learning again and again, planning is the key to winnin the battle against the time monster.